SPRING/BREAK Art Show 2023

Chuck Thomas uses layers of bold color and detail to create depth within paintings. The work is a direct revolt against academic art in favour of a highly decorative style similar to Art Nouveau. The largest canvases are characterized by precise linear drawing and the bold and arbitrary use of flat, decorative patterns of color. His use of bold color heightens a lush sensuality by surrounding unique shapes with areas of flat, highly ornamental, brilliantly composed areas of decoration.

These are hybrid paintings, combining elements of figure and landscape into abstract compositions. Utilizing layered strokes and marks of color to shape an image more discovered then planned. World travel influences, the cities, locals, figures and faces meld with nature, creating patterns with the possibility of forms materializing. They are a world of reflections, a mirror image of memory creating a place imagined.

Jason uses shards of color to break conventions of perspective through works that present an abstract vanishing point. The shards draw the viewer in as the colors appear to vibrate against those around it, creating an optical flicker. Like Op Art, looking directly at the organic center point can be extremely disorienting. The rays of color create an experience of overwhelming ecstasy much like early religious Renaissance paintings. His engagement with the technical approach to painting harkens back to geometric abstraction of early 20th century Futurism and the expressive paintings of Color Fields.

"The Death of Superman" and "Get Well Soon" were inspired my his fathers passing in 2022. "My father was not much for writing, so he would send newspaper clippings (papier-mâché) with articles that he thought I would enjoy marked with an "x" or "circled". The works are an expression of dealing with grief by using dark humor during difficult and tragic times.

Jon imagines worlds that lie somewhere between conceptual patterning and perceived reality. Combining photography, painting, inks, and manipulation of paper - his resulting images are simultaneously organic, atmospheric, and geometric. A fractured space emerges, mirroring the relatable existential schism between the world we perceive and the abstract reality that physical sciences present. His work can be seen as if the viewer is floating above the clouds down at a night cityscape. With intricate line work and luminescent orbs of light, Jon is focused on creating the most maximal visual details possible. Jon's early work was of post apocalyptic landscapes using the horizon as a means of creating space - he has been playing with perspective and light ever since.